9 years down the road
by sartielifts
Summary: Artie's looking a bit down today, and Puck might actually be genuinely concerned for his fellow Glee clubber. What is it exactly that's bothering Artie so much about this particular day? Read to find out  Artie-Puck friendship fic .


9 years down the road

"'Sup, my handicapable homie?", Puck greeted Artie by his locker, requesting a high-five just within his reach. Sure, it was a little insulting always being defined by the wheelchair, but it was still kinda nice, Artie thought, feeling like Puck was treating him like they were actually friends.

"Not much, really", Artie lied, as he high-fived him with little enthusiasm. This really wasn't the happiest day of the year for him, and he didn't exactly feel like talking about it to anyone.

"Yo, what's up with you today? You face looks like one of those sad smiley faces." Artie must have unintentionally made some kind of facial expression to match how he was feeling inside.

This was awkward. The last thing on Artie's mind right now was telling Puck the truth, but on the other hand, he had no inspiration what so ever for coming up with a creative and convincing lie to tell him. He just went with the first thing he could think of, besides what he'd been thinking about all day.

"It's Tina", he began. "She's been so distant since we broke up last year, and I just want us to be friends again." It wasn't really lying as much as reshaping the truth a little. They'd actually started hanging out more and more recently, especially since the time they spent together in Detroit with the Brainiacs. Mike seemed to finally start believing Tina when she told him she did love Artie, but only as a friend. Both Tina and Artie knew Mike could be a little jealous, especially since he told Coach Beiste to stay away from his girlfriend last year.

Unfortunately for Artie, Puck seemed to be on to his quickly made up story, looking a bit confused.

"But I saw you two in the cafeteria yesterday, as I was punching that dweeb who's always stealing my seat." Artie pretended like he didn't hear that last part. "You looked like you were having a pretty damn good time. I was actually kinda expecting Mike to come and tell you to stay away from his woman." He shook his head in disbelief. "So what's really up with you, bro? You've been looking down all day, and you're usually the first one to remind me every Tuesday not to miss Glee-practice, smiling from freakin' ear to ear."

Artie was looking down at the clouds on his vest, sighed and looked up and around him at all of the people running around in the corridor, getting ready for either their after-school activities, or dinner with their families as they arrived home from a long day at school.

Puck took this as a hint, rather than a warning not quiz Artie any further on his emotional state, and grabbed the handles on Artie's wheelchair, pushing him into the empty classroom nearby.

"Hey", Artie said surprised and slightly annoyed. "We've got Glee-practice in 15 minutes."

"Well, then you'd better start spillin' right away, 'cause I don't wanna be late for my first solo in months." Puck retorted.

Artie knew very well that Puck wasn't exactly the guy to start talking about feelings and stuff, but he did look concerned for him, which would have been a lot more touching if it wasn't for the fact that he was probably just trying to get on Artie's good side to get him to write that English essay for him. Still, he had seen Puck with Rachel a couple of times, and he did seem to have a nice side to him as well, so perhaps he was actually genuinely worried about him.

Trying to look as disaffected as possible, talking about such personal things, he rolled his eyes slightly and took a deep breath, dreading what he was about to indulge Puck in.

"It's been 9 years today", he said in a flat voice, avoiding eye-contact with Puck the best he could.

"9 years of what?", Puck asked curiously.

Hesitatingly, he looked at Puck, and decided to just tell him, without further ado.

"My accident. I've been in a wheelchair for exactly 9 years today." Puck looked uncomfortable. This was the first time Artie had talked to him about how he ended up in a wheelchair, but he was still interested in finding out more, now that they were talking about it.

"Bad memories, I guess?", Puck asked, not knowing what else to say. Artie didn't exactly seem thrilled to be talking about this stuff, so he was careful with his words, not wanting to cross the line.

"Yeah, that too, but I just realized something today", Artie said, looking out the window, still avoiding eye-contact like the plague. "It happened when I was 8. Today it's been 9 years. That means I've been in this chair for more than half of my life."

Lost for words, Puck just stood there, watching Artie trying to pretend like it wasn't as big of a deal as it really was for him. Comforting words, or words at all for that matter, wasn't really Puck's strong side, as any of his teachers would agree with without thinking twice, so he just put his hand on Artie's shoulder instead.

"Sorry 'bout that, dude." He tried to make it sound as nice as he possibly could, but he got the feeling that he was putting the "Pathetic" in "Sympathetic".

"Just don't tell anyone else about it, ok?", Artie asked. He had the feeling the Glee club practice would turn in to a pity party if the word spread, and he really wasn't feeling up for that. He was pretty sure Rachel would run home as fast as she could and bake him an "I'm sorry" cake, in the form of a five car pile up or something. She was cool in her own rather special way, but sensitivity had never really seemed like her thing.

"Sure", Puck promised Artie, intending to actually keep a promise for once in his life.


End file.
